INDIA:
Much of the once bountiful and lush-green rice fields was reduced to
a dry, yellow-brown landscape, after successive years of scanty
rainfall and severe drought.

For
farmer Mr Vijayakumar, 52, the rice crop was his family’s sole
source of income. Hit by the double whammy of crop failure and
mounting debts, he took a lonely walk to the edge of his two-acre
rice field in Tamil Nadu in January this year.

There
the tough, rugged man, used to the hard toil of a farmer for decades,
hanged himself from a nearby tree.

“He
was constantly worrying about the debts,” said his wife
Vijayakumari, who is now struggling to cope with the loss of her
husband and their escalating debts. “His mind was never at peace.
He kept saying that there were so many debts to repay and he was
worried about how his only son was going to manage all that.”

Mr
Vijayakumar had borrowed from moneylenders to pay for his daughter’s
wedding and for fertilisers for his crops which didn’t grow, she
told the Channel NewsAsia programme Insight.

He
is just one of roughly 350 farmers who have died in Tamil Nadu in
recent months, according to unofficial estimates. In the past 20
years, more than 300,000 indebted farmers in India have committed
suicide - many due to family debts, reported The Hindu newspaper.

PEOPLE
ARE LOSING HOPE

Years
of scanty and inadequate rainfall have led to the drying up of water
reservoirs and village water bodies in southern India, especially the
grain-growing regions of Tamil Nadu which is facing its worse drought
in 140 years.

Water
activist Dr Rajendra Singh said: “We have not seen a drought of
this intensity before. People have lost hope in life and are
committing suicide.”

“People
are leaving the villages and moving to the cities… They don’t
have food to eat and water to drink. There is no fodder for the
livestock,” added the winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award and the
Stockholm Water Prize.

The
once-mighty 800km Cauvery River, a major lifeline in southern India
on which millions of farmers depend, has turned into dust tracts in
several sections before it trickles down to the Bay of Bengal.

Dense
forests once helped to retain water on the hill slopes, enabling slow
percolation into the streams that feed the river. But widespread
deforestation along the Cauvery Basin has led to soil erosion and a
reduction in rainfall.

image:

Scientist
and environmentalist Dr Vandana Shiva pointed out that the region
gets only four months of rain during the monsoons, during which in
ideal circumstances, the water would be naturally stored in the humus
and earth of the forests.

“But
if you don’t store it, the rain comes, causes a flood, and you have
a drought,” she said.

“The
second reason is that there is an over extraction (of water) beyond
the capacity of the river. That extraction is leaving the river dry.”

SMALL
RIVERS DRYING UP

Dr
Shiva also blames the government’s ambitious scheme that aims to
link Indian rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals, with dams
diverting the flow from areas with a water surplus.

She
said: “There’s this assumption that you can have bigger and
bigger cities and you can divert water from hundreds and thousands of
miles away.

To take all the rivers in India and divert them to the cities and industrial areas - all rivers will die.

Critics
argue that damming the rivers will cause coastal erosion,
deforestation and the displacement of people, and exacerbate the
impact of climate change.

Dr
Singh pointed out that the introduction of centralised irrigation
systems and large dams have led to serious soil erosion. while the
over-extraction of underground aquifers depleted the water table.

“There
was no more water to be drawn from under the ground, and the water at
the top flowed away with the soil, causing erosion and silting,” he
said. “All the small rivers are dying.”

Bauxite
mining has also wreaked havoc and contributed to a collapse of
groundwater levels.

Environmental
activist Mr Piyush Manush said that the rampant extraction of bauxite
– from which aluminium is produced - from the Servarayan Hills has
led to an environmental disaster.

Bauxite
absorbs rainwater and slowly releases water into the streams. But the
extraction of bauxite has left the hills bare and arid. “If the
hill is undisturbed, the bauxite and other minerals inside act as a
sponge to absorb water and release it slowly.

“Now,
if you chop the hill for bauxite, the hill gets hardened with
exposure to sunlight. And once it hardens, it loses that sponge
effect,” he said.

DEBT
DESPERATION AND SUICIDE

Faced
with the water crisis and their crop failures, desperate farmers have
turned to money lenders for loans to buy food, seeds, fertiliser and
equipment.

These
money lenders charge exorbitant interest rates and as debts pile up,
farmers often find themselves unable to cope with the pressure. Some
think that by killing themselves, they can save their families - but
moneylenders don’t stop hounding the survivors.

“We
still have debts that we haven't been able to repay. None of our
debts have been cancelled,” said Madam Vijayakumari.

Not
far from her village, another rice farmer Mr Ashokan, 55, was also
troubled by the same thoughts of crippling debt and destruction of
crops.

He
went to the bank to get another loan to buy pesticides and
fertilisers, but collapsed and died while standing in line. His
widow, Madam Vedhavalli, believes he died due to the stress of his
crop failures.

In
April, distressed and angry drought-hit farmers from Tamil Nadu took
to the streets of Indian capital New Delihi to protest, demanding
farm loan waivers. A few state governments have conceded, agreeing to
waive their loans amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

But
farmers like Mr Gnanaprakasam, 59, in Samudayam village still feel
threatened, with upstream states like Karnataka refusing to share
Cauvery River’s water with neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Water
wars broke out after Karnataka refused to comply with India’s
Supreme Court ruling that it release more water, leading to violence
on the streets, reported the Hindustan Times. If Karnataka doesn’t
accede, Mr Gnanaprakasam said:

The
districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam will transform
into deserts. All the crops will be destroyed.

“Farmers
and labourers will leave the village without a choice. That's already
happening now. Many farmers have lost their lives. They have died out
of shock. Some have committed suicide.”

FOR
NOW, A COMMUNITY SOLUTION?

Dr
Singh, also known as India’s Water Man, has been fighting an uphill
battle to revive water bodies and rivers in the semi-arid region of
Rajasthan for more than 30 years. He has set up more than 8,000 water
tanks and revived seven rivers in Rajasthan.

In
Alwar district, about 200km from Delhi, he has used path-breaking
water conservation techniques to bring water back to more than 1,000
villages. He believes local water preservation and community-driven
water management systems are the only ways to end the “terrible
disaster”.

He
said:

The
solution to this is community-driven decentralised water management.
This is a solution that the government is not looking to implement.
They are only looking at large dams and centralised irrigation
systems - which are the main reasons for this drought.

Dr
Sunita Narain, director general of the India-based research institute
the Centre for Science and Environment, believes that Tamil Nadu
needs to augment its water supply through a decentralised water
harvesting system.

This means building water tanks, and going back to
the traditions of harvesting water, restoring and recharging every
lake and pond in Tamil Nadu.

She
also thinks that the state needs to move away from water intensive
crops such as sugar cane.

“Third,
make every industry and city in Tamil Nadu water-wise, so you use
less water and you recharge and recharge every drop of water the
Singapore way. It has to be a combination of all three,” she said.

For
the farmers’ widows like Vijayakumari and Vedhavalli, it may be a
case of too little, too late.

“Saving
the Cauvery River is akin to saving the lives of the farmers,” said
Ms Vedhavalli. “We are afraid to go ahead with anything now. We
can't depend on the rain for anything.

“Rain
only comes occasionally. At times, when there's too much rain, we
suffer from floods. Now we are facing drought.”

"Vladimir
Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician and leader of the Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia. He is fiercely nationalist (which is
actually an antithesis to the 'liberal-democratic' party name) and
has been described as "a showman of Russian politics, blending
populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a
brash, confrontational style." However, Zhirinovsky states that
the new sanctions against Russia are not Donald Trump's doing, but
that of the financial elite. He draws comparisons to previous
examples throughout history where US bankers behaved in exactly the
same manner."

Vladimir
Zhirinovsky, the leader of popular Russian opposition party the LDPR
(formerly the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), has given a wide
reaching interview where he analysed the reasons behind and the
repercussions of the new US sanctions.

Zhirinovsky
who is multi-lingual and holds advanced degrees in world history,
stated that the grip of financial institutions over US politics have
made the US political elites subservient to banking interests. He
also stated that Congressional opposition to Donald Trump
demonstrates that America is moving further from a strong
Presidential system and closer to a parliamentary system.

The
Russian opposition veteran leader also stated that in the long term,
America’s self-imposed isolation through globally unpopular
sanctions will ultimately weaken the US Dollar, saying that the
Dollar is the 21st century’s version of the ‘Iron Curtain’.

Now
watch, as Vladimir Zhirinovsky explains what America is doing to
itself and the world.

Russian
politician Zhirinovsky slams anti-Russian American pundit during a
live talk-show

Would
US let Russian journalists/politicians to talk live? Michael Bohm has
been defending American criminal policy for years by now, all the
time on a live talk-show.

https://higginsstormchasing.com/winter-heatwave-sweep-qld-next-week/

A
winter ‘heatwave’ is likely to sweep QLD (and much of Australia
really) across the next week or more, seeing temperatures of up
to 10ºc above average in parts of QLD during this period. Above
image – Maximum Temperatures for Sunday (July 30th) via BSCH / OCF
showing the heat still in place across large parts of the State.

Animated
gif of the next 14 day temperature anomaly via Tropicaltidbits. Red
or pink areas indicate temperatures exceeding the 4ºc heatwave
threshold (pink is up to 14ºc above average)

Across
the next 7 days at least, a high pressure system is expected to
become planted over Southern QLD with a ridge extending into Northern
and Central QLD. This entire system which is also likely to affect
the majority of Eastern Australia, is likely to produce clear and
sunny conditions for the most part (apart from some isolated showers
along the Northern Tropical Coast). Its also likely to draw off a
warm air mass situated over QLD resulting in an increase in daytime
maximum temperatures.

Across
South-Eastern QLD, the Darling Downs and Wide Bay, the typical
18-22ºc maximum temperature averages will be a far cry from reality.
Although it has been abnormally warm already for the most part this
month (Brisbane 0.7ºc above average, Dalby 2.1ºc above average,
Gympie 1.3ºc above average), things are likely to be ramped up even
further with a week of temperatures ranging between 5 and 8ºc above
average and sitting in the mid to possibly even high 20’s for most
locations. Out west its even worse with the majority of Western and
Northern Inland QLD is expected to see temperatures more typical of
mid Autumn or mid Spring, with maximums ranging between the high 20’s
and low 30’s. This is a far cry from the low 20ºc temperatures
which are typical of this time of year around Birdsville and the mid
20ºc temperatures which are seen around Mt Isa.

While
technically speaking it isn’t a ‘heatwave’ given its only
‘Winter’ and temps are in the mid 20’s not mid 40’s. By
numerical reality, it is a heatwave to a degree. What we mean by this
is, the thresholds for heatwave criteria are about 4-5ºc above
average for both maximum and minimum temperatures for at least 3
days.

Due to the clear skies, minimum temperatures are expected to be
normal, if not below average with light frost still expected over the
Darling Downs, Granite Belt and Western parts of South-East QLD most
mornings. Its solely the daytime temperatures which are roasting.

Warm
waters for Great Barrier Reef

The
Southern Great Barrier Reef is now in its 6th day above 2C anomaly -
the threshold for coral bleaching. Global warming is destroying the
worlds reefs.

WARMEST
JULY DAY TODAY IN SYDNEY SMASHES NEW RECORDS

Sydney
sets new July heat record, 26.5 degrees breaking the record set 27
years ago (1990) which was 25.9c.

Do
US military industrial complex certainly doing nothing to help
President Trump and trying to restore relations with President
Vladimir Putin of Russia. A military convoy sing in Poland on the
border of Ukraine after the recent sanctions passed by the Senate
makes one wonder what will come next.

US military convoy spotted today in Krosno, Poland near the border with Ukraine

A
new Pentagon study says the U.S. may be losing its dominant position
in world affairs and that the DoD needs a "wakeup call"--but
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says the report is really about using fear to
drum up more money for the military

An
extraordinary new Pentagon study has concluded that the U.S.-backed
international order established after World War 2 is “fraying”
and may even be “collapsing”, leading the United States to lose
its position of “primacy” in world affairs.

The
solution proposed to protect U.S. power in this new “post-primacy”
environment is, however, more of the same: more surveillance, more
propaganda (“strategic manipulation of perceptions”) and more
military expansionism.

The
document concludes that the world has entered a fundamentally new
phase of transformation in which U.S. power is in decline,
international order is unravelling, and the authority of governments
everywhere is crumbling.

Having
lost its past status of “pre-eminence”, the U.S. now inhabits a
dangerous, unpredictable “post-primacy” world, whose defining
feature is “resistance to authority”.

Danger
comes not just from great power rivals like Russia and China, both
portrayed as rapidly growing threats to American interests, but also
from the increasing risk of “Arab Spring”-style events. These
will erupt not just in the Middle East, but all over the world,
potentially undermining trust in incumbent governments for the
foreseeable future.

In
this video, Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange gives you the latest
breaking news on Donald Trumps controversial ruling on Transgenders
in the U.S Military, former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz aid
being arrested after he was fleeing the country, the erosion of
freedom around the world and the lastest moves by China, Russia,
North Korea and a lot more.

This
week we deliver another LIVE broadcast from the sunny shores of Devon
in the UK, as SUNDAY WIRE host Patrick
Henningsen is
joined by Mike
Robinson,
editor of the UK
Column,
as we discuss this weeks top news stories both foreign and domestic. While the Trump White House is embroiled in another episode
of political
archaos,
the US votes to resume
sanctions against Russia,
while Israel threatens to break the fragile Russian-brokered ceasefire
in Syria.
Trump drawn fire from liberal progressives and Hollywood over his
recent announcement to ban
transgender soldiers from
US military. We also discuss Charlie Sheen and Whoopi Goldberg’s
appearance in new
9/11 film trailer due
out this all. Later in the first hour we’ll discuss the recent
controversy over a new US
law that would make organized protests or boycotting Israel
illegal in
the US. In the third hour, we’ll try and connect with 21WIRE
Associate Editor Vanessa
Beeley on
the ground in Aleppo, Syria to discuss two media creations from Syria
– the Bana
of Aleppo myth,
and also find out what happened to young Omran
Daqnesh. Later in the program we’ll also try and connect with SUNDAY WIRE
intrepid correspondent for culture & sport, Basil
Valentine, reporting
from the Port
Elliot Literary Festival in
St Germans, Cornwall.

This
may be the most important interview that you will hear this year.
It's certainly the most important video you can share today. We talk
a lot about the coming collapse of the US petrodollar, but in this
interview economic expert and former stock broker Lynette Zang
exposes just how close to the edge of total collapse we are. It's a
sobering interview loaded with tangible, quantifiable facts that
ought to wake up even the soundest of sleepers. It's not too late to
take action if you live in the United States. But as Lynette
predicts, those who don't move to protect themselves now, may soon
find themselves in the same boat as Venezuelans who are now suffering
through a nightmarish hyperinflation of the currency and a total
collapse of their once thriving economy,Visit
Lynette's site here:https://www.itmtrading.com/

European
Union states are considering
measures which would allow them to temporarily stop people
withdrawing money from their accounts to prevent bank runs, an
EU document reviewed by Reuters revealed.

The
move is aimed at helping rescue lenders that are deemed failing or
likely to fail, but critics say it could hit confidence and might
even hasten withdrawals at the first rumors of a bank being in
trouble.

The
proposal, which has been in the works since the beginning of this
year, comes less than two months after a run on deposits at Banco
Popular contributed to the collapse of the Spanish lender.

Giving
supervisors the power to temporarily block bank accounts at ailing
lenders is “a feasible option,” a paper prepared by the Estonian
presidency of the EU said, acknowledging that member states were
divided on the issue.

EU
countries which already allow a moratorium on bank payouts in
insolvency procedures at national level, like Germany, support the
measure, officials said.

“The
desire is to prevent a bank run, so that when a bank is in a critical
situation it is not pushed over the edge,” a
person familiar with German government’s thinking said.

The
Estonian proposal was discussed by EU envoys on July 13 but no
decision was made, an EU official said. Discussions were due to
continue in September. Approval of EU lawmakers would be required for
any final decision.

Under
the plan discussed by EU states, pay-outs could be suspended for five
working days and the block could be extended to a maximum of 20 days
in exceptional circumstances, the Estonian document said.

Spooking
Customers

I
side with Charlie Bannister of the Association for Financial Markets
in Europe (AFME), who says “We strongly believe that this would
incentivize depositors to run from a bank at an early stage.”